These Fleeting Shadows was such a whirlwind of discoveries, twists, emotion, and beautiful prose! I was pleasantly surprised with how superbly written many passages in this novel were. The author has a tremendous skill at using vivid metaphor and sentence structure to convey meaning, and it kept me very interested for the entirety of the book.

The plot of this novel went in a completely different direction than I had expected in the absolute best way. I understand that a lot of readers had some difficulty with keeping up with the twists and turns, but I felt that information was revealed at just the right pace, and the important points were reiterated multiple times. Watching all of the pieces come together at the end was so satisfying for me.

Another strength of this book is it's character development - I truly adored (most) of the characters by the last page. The way they interacted with one another additionally felt realistic and warm. Helen had to grow on me; she originally comes off as "not like other girls," but... it's true. She truly is not like other girls. If you know you know. For that reason, I'll allow it.

I would say my only critique is that the dialogue occasionally felt a bit juvenile. But since this novel is technically young adult, and many of the main characters are literally teens, it makes sense within the greater context of the story. At times, however, I felt it contrasted a bit harshly with the seriousness and grandiose aspects of the plot.

All in all, These Fleeting Shadows is both simultaneously a sweet, sapphic coming of age story and a dark, insidious tale that considers and explores classism, how we form our own self-concept, family pressures, what it means to be human, and the selfishness of man. I highly recommend it!